"Indeed, you've just uttered nonsense. But speaking of it," the female monster said, scanning Mu Anxiao from head to toe, "Ouyang Ye's taste is truly strange. You're quite ordinary-looking; how did he take a liking to you? If you ask me, that Juan'er is far more attractive than you."
Juan'er?
As it turned out, from the moment Mu Anxiao arrived, she harbored no significant prejudice against anyone except Mo Juan. Now, this monstrous female was shamelessly comparing her to Mo Juan. Naturally, her anger was stirred by this monster. "What is your name?" she asked, deliberately shifting the topic.
The female monster frowned. "My name is none of your concern. You only need to know," she said with a sinister smile, "that your death is imminent." As she spoke, two purple fireballs materialized between her hands.
Mu Anxiao felt nothing from this. Instead, she sneered, "Is this your technique?" While speaking, she discovered the female monster's weakness—it lay between her palms.
"I have many more techniques, rest assured," the female monster said, confident of victory. "I will definitely let you experience them all."
"Do you know who I dislike the most here?" Mu Anxiao steered the conversation back.
The female monster's eyes darkened. "How would I know who you dislike? Besides," she scoffed, "who you dislike has nothing to do with me."
"It has nothing to do with me, but what I want to tell you is that you've unknowingly offended me. And no monster that has offended me has ever had a good end." After speaking, Mu Anxiao quickly drew her dagger and flew towards the female monster.
The instant Mu Anxiao made this move, the female monster directly hurled the two purple fireballs at her. Simultaneously, Mu Anxiao's eyes locked onto her target. While dodging the fireballs with a series of flips, the two trees behind her, struck by the fireballs, burst into flames.
The next second, a wave of heat assailed Mu Anxiao from behind. Yet, even so, Mu Anxiao was unaffected and resolutely plunged her dagger through the hand of the female monster that was attempting to conjure another fireball. Following this, amidst the monster's shrieks, Mu Anxiao seized the monster's other hand and said coldly, "This is the consequence of offending me." With that, she brought the female monster down to the ground.
The female monster stared blankly at Mu Anxiao, who had so easily found her weakness, and murmured, "How could this be?"
"Remember, the one I despise most... is Mo Juan," Mu Anxiao said, pulling out the dagger embedded in the monster's palm. "If you can't remember, you won't keep your other hand either." Then, amidst the monster's wails, she cast a spell to mute its voice.
Under Mu Anxiao's actions, the female monster's legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground, clutching her injured hand tightly.
Mu Anxiao snorted, turned aside, and with a wave of her arm, extinguished the purple fire.
Meanwhile.
Jiong Ye sat on the ground, gazing fearfully at the rope in his hand, contemplating the strength of the force that had previously tugged at the other end of the rope and its connection to Mu Anxiao. He thought, "I've caused trouble."
Within the blood forest, after extinguishing the purple fire, Mu Anxiao's gaze fixed upon the female monster. "Does it hurt a lot?" she asked deliberately.
Hearing this, the female monster, covered in blood and sweat, looked at Mu Anxiao and choked out, "I remember you."
"I think you must be missing Ouyang Ye," Mu Anxiao said, squatting beside the female monster.
"I hate you, but..." the female monster said, cautiously glancing at the dagger in Mu Anxiao's hand. She still feared it. "But I beg you, don't take me to see Ouyang Ye. I don't want to die."
"You were just confidently saying you'd devour me, and now you're cowering." Mu Anxiao said, reaching out to grab the female monster's arm.
The female monster shook her head. "I lost."
"Since you know you've lost, get up. Don't waste my time here." Mu Anxiao said, an ominous feeling inexplicably rising within her.
The female monster: "Are you really going to take me to Ouyang Ye?"
"Yes," Mu Anxiao nodded, helping the female monster to her feet.
The female monster was drenched in a cold sweat. "Why are you taking me to him? Could it be..."
"I used magic here. If I'm truly locked up by Ouyang Ye upon my return, many of my affairs will be delayed. So," Mu Anxiao kept Jiong Ye's earlier reminder in mind, "you are my most effective piece of evidence to escape punishment."
"Evidence?" the female monster exclaimed. "I'm merely evidence in your eyes? I have blood, flesh..."
"My greatest virtue is holding grudges. From the moment I first saw you, you showed me no respect. Naturally," Mu Anxiao deliberately interrupted the female monster, "in my eyes, you are not a living being."
"You..."
"Say one more word, and I might just kill you." Mu Anxiao said, roughly dragging the female monster back the way they came.
As Mu Anxiao uttered those words, the female monster began to laugh.
Hearing the laughter, Mu Anxiao stopped in her tracks and directed a hostile glare at the female monster. "What are you laughing at?" she asked coldly.
The female monster smiled. "You don't dare to kill me."
"You know me very well." Mu Anxiao grew even more disgusted with the female monster.
"Your name is Mu Anxiao. If I recall correctly, those monsters all say you rely entirely on your mouth to get things done. And you're always too soft-hearted with monsters. Although you've been heartless before, but..." the female monster said smugly, "you've never truly executed any monster, have you?"
"It seems you enjoy listening to other people's stories."
"Before those monsters died, they had to tell me a story, or else," the female monster said with an air of capability, "their deaths would be painful."
"You certainly didn't say it like that," Mu Anxiao stated calmly.
The female monster smiled wryly.
Mu Anxiao let out a soft hum. "They are right. I truly can't bring myself to do it. That's precisely why," she said, staring intently at the female monster's face, "I must hand you over to Ouyang Ye for judgment. That way, I can be free of worry."
"You've truly decided to kill me," the female monster whispered.
"That's not up to me to decide. It mainly depends on Ouyang Ye's mood," Mu Anxiao said, pulling the female monster along forcefully.
Under Mu Anxiao's forceful tugging, the female monster was rendered speechless.
In a blink, Mu Anxiao dragged the female monster to Jiong Ye. "What are you doing?" she asked, then suddenly noticed the rope in Jiong Ye's hand.
Immediately, upon Mu Anxiao's question, Jiong Ye raised his face... and inexplicably grinned foolishly at Mu Anxiao.
"How did the rope get into your hand?" Mu Anxiao said, about to bend down to retrieve it. Jiong Ye suddenly stood up. Seeing his reaction, Mu Anxiao frowned. "What is the meaning of this?" she became uneasy.
The female monster looked at Jiong Ye's state and chuckled.
Hearing this, Jiong Ye immediately glared at the female monster. Upon seeing this, the female monster immediately suppressed the smile at the corner of her mouth and lowered her head.